A new baby is always a blessing, but try telling that to two-year-old Piper, who threw the biggest tantrum of her little lifetime after learning she is now a big sister. Don’t be fooled by her dainty purple and pink dress — this is one rough reaction!

Piper’s father filmed her hilarious freakout after telling her that she had a newborn sister coming home from the hospital, asking innocent questions like “Do you like your sister?” and “Do you want to give her a hug?” You can probably guess that Piper screamed “no” — we lost count of how many times — and eventually threw herself onto the floor. Any new parent (or anyone who’s been around kids in a public place) knows that classic move.

Piper’s Oscar-worthy dramatics will strike a chord with older siblings everywhere who aren’t quite ready to share the spotlight. (Remember little Landon, who was totally confused by his new twin sisters? While he didn’t shriek or fall to the floor like our pal Piper, he was clearly caught off-guard by the two tiny sisters in matching strawberry onesies.) We bet these two sisters will be best friends soon enough, but for now, enjoy the most adorable meltdown you’ll see all day. And mind your volume; Piper’s got some pipes.

First-time dad Ryan Reynolds has lost a ton of sleep doting on his new baby girl (and his wife Blake Lively), but he hasn’t lost his sense of humor. Doing the TV talk show circuit to promote Mississippi Grind, Reynolds talked about the ups and downs of parenthood and had audiences cracking up between oohs and awws. From dodging the question of his daughter’s name (we’re still dying to know!) to sharing that, yes, his daughter is “totally average,” Reynolds is on his A-game. Kelly Ripa finally pointed out what we were all thinking: “Fatherhood agrees with you!”

It sure does. Here, Reynolds’s best observations about fatherhood.

On the Late Show with David Letterman:

1. “I used to say, ‘I would take a bullet for you.’ The second I looked into that baby’s eyes, I knew in that exact moment that if we were ever under attack, I would use my wife as a human shield to protect that baby.”

2. “For the guy, I’m just the diaper-changing facility hooked up to a life support system. But my wife, she’s breakfast, lunch and dinner. She’s a human Denny’s… She is the most beautiful Denny’s you’ve ever seen.”

Paging Cupid to the delivery room: Carrying to term may set baby up for a more favorable love life in adulthood.

According to a study published in the latest issue of Pediatrics, twenty-somethings born preterm (before 37 weeks) are less likely to move in with a romantic partner or have sexual intercourse than their peers born even one week later.

Researchers found that those who were born early or late preterm were also less likely to find themselves attractive, and more likely to still live with their parents. The findings, which compared survey responses from 753 twenty-something adults born in Finland between 1985 and 1989, showed that preterm birth can have an adverse effect on social health, in addition to the more obvious physical effects.

Previous studies have found that individuals born preterm might be more cautious and less risk-taking than those born at full term, which might also be reflected in our findings of lower likelihood of romantic relations,” says lead study author Dr. Tuija Mannisto, a researcher and fellow in clinical chemistry with the National Institute for Health and Welfare and the Northern Finland Laboratory Centre Nordlab in Oulu, Finland.

While preemie birth rates have fortunately dropped in the US, if your baby is born a few weeks early, don’t panic—it doesn’t necessarily mean he or she is destined to be a lonely, unhappy adult.

“What we have seen with kids is that babies who are born preterm tend to be more risk averse and shy and more fearful,” says Dr. Kristi Watterberg, a neonatologist at the University of New Mexico and chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Fetus and Newborn, who wasn’t involved in the study.

“But on the other hand, we have seen that these kids tend to grow up and develop a good life, a life the kids and their parents are happy with.”

One of the best things you can do to help your preemie along is to provide plenty of skin-to-skin contact in the first few weeks. Holding baby in a soothing way helps them develop while also preventing overstimulation. Mimicking the sounds they make is also a great way to help them engage in their surroundings and start building their social skills early on.

While we rang in the New Year by watching (on television) the ball drop in Times Square, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds welcomed their first child, according to the New York Post’s Page Six.

The baby arrived in December earlier than expected, but mother and child are both doing fine, reports the paper. No further details have been released about the birth of the baby, whether it’s a boy or girl, or if Reynolds got his way and named the child Excalibur Anaconda Reynolds (his girl name pick) or Bruce Jenner (for a boy).

Lively announced her pregnancy in October on her lifestyle website Preserve. Soon after, the actress made several stylish red carpet appearances showing off her maternity style. “I’m gonna amp up my style by wearing things that are stretchier. Because that’s all that fits!” she joked to People.

The couple, who wed in 2012, seemed to have babies on the brain from the very beginning, with Lively telling Marie Claire, “If I could spit out a litter of kids, I would.”

Can you imagine keeping your pregnancy a secret up until almost the end? That’s what one mom-to-be decided to do when the pink line on her pee stick appeared this past April. Although Vanessa Joy and her husband Rob Adams were trying to get pregnant, it still didn’t prepare the New Jersey-based wedding photographer for the shock of that OMG moment.

“Maybe because I was expecting it to be negative like all the rest I had taken up until then. That and a hundred other different reasons I just looked down at it and was horrified. The one thing I couldn’t do was jump up and down holding the pee stick and fake it. I wanted to be honest about how I felt and I was happy that I was,” Joy tells The Bump.

Three months before her positive result, Joy wrote a post on her blog called “Why I Was Convinced Pregnancy Would Ruin My Life.” In a twist of fate it was published by a local newspaper just a few weeks after she found out she was pregnant. The article expressed her honest fears that having a baby would wreck her career. As a wedding photographer, Joy knew nervous brides would be hesitant to hire her if there was even the slightest chance she wouldn’t make it to shoot on the day of the wedding. “Before I was ever planning on kids, a bride told me she was concerned I might be starting a family even though I told her I wasn’t, so she didn’t want to hire me because of it.”

All of these things and more led Joy to keep her belly under wraps from everyone in her life—except for a few very close friends and family. “The truth is that no one could tell I was pregnant anyway. Despite having a perfectly-sized baby according to ultrasounds, I could easily hide it until I reached about seven and a half months,” says Joy. “I definitely had a bit of luck there and I was able to keep my personal life personal so I chose to do that as long as I could.”

In her eighth month, when Joy reached the point she could no longer hide she officially made the announcement by posting maternity photos on Facebook. “Immediately, everyone was confused and wanted to know why. That’s when I decided to write the second post explaining why I hid it. I figured it would resonate with a lot of women and bring to light a lot of issues that women are scared to talk about,” says Joy.

With her baby girl due to arrive any day now, Joy’s had time to process things and figure out how to make motherhood work for her—just like she made the decision to hide her pregnancy work for her. “I’m bringing a baby into my life, I’m not bringing myself into theirs,” she says. “And that’s not to say I’m going to ignore my child and just do what I want, but I’m going to create a lifestyle that works for my entire family, baby included. In fact, her first scheduled plane ride is set to happen when she’s three months old! I understand that I truly don’t know what lies ahead as a first-time mom, but I’m happy having goals for the new experience, while learning to be flexible and grow through it all.”

It sure is hard keeping up with the Kardashians. And it’s about to get even harder as the newest member of the clan has arrived.

KourtneyKardashian and long-time boyfriend Scott Disick welcomed their third child, a son on Sunday, Dec. 14, reports Us Weekly.

The reality star, who’s also mom to Mason, 5, and Penelope, 2, made headlines just a few weeks ago with her nude photo shoot for DuJour magazine. Kardashian defended the photos, saying, “This was something that initially I did for myself just to capture the moment in my life, but these photos are beautiful and I’m happy to share them.”

“It’s a wonderful thing to be able to show my children these photographs one day and say, ‘This was you inside,’” she said.

The birth of her youngest happens to fall on the same day as big brother Mason’s 5th birthday, making it a double celebration.

Congrats to the new family of five!

]]>http://blog.thebump.com/2014/12/14/kourtney-kardashian-scott-disick-welcome-third-baby-a-boy/feed/0http://i0.wp.com/xothebump.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/kourtney-kardashian-baby-announcemnet.jpg?resize=214%2C148http://blog.thebump.com/2014/12/14/kourtney-kardashian-scott-disick-welcome-third-baby-a-boy/
The Cutest Holiday Outfits for Your Santa Babieshttp://blog.thebump.com/2014/12/12/the-cutest-holiday-outfits-for-your-santa-babies/
http://blog.thebump.com/2014/12/12/the-cutest-holiday-outfits-for-your-santa-babies/#commentsFri, 12 Dec 2014 15:00:59 +0000http://blog.thebump.com/?p=27880]]>There’s nothing cuter than tiny clothing for tiny tots — and that’s even more true when it comes to holiday-inspired outfits. So what’s going to wear well for everything from outdoor tree-lighting ceremonies and festive family gatherings to ripping open presents on Christmas morning? Well, look no further. Cue the awwws and get out your camera phones for those sweet snapshots.

Eva Mendes may have kept her pregnancy very private, but the actress is finally sharing details about life as a new mom to Esmeralda.

During her appearance today on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Mendes opens up about her daughter, whom she and Ryan Gosling welcomed eight weeks ago. “You know we’re getting the hang of it, the sleeping thing. But yeah, I’m exhausted and it’s the best.” said the Hitch actress. “Really, I’m so incredibly tired. I thought I was tired before at times, but no. Nothing like this, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The actress also addressed the couple’s desire to keep their daughter’s life as private as possible. “I think just early on, we decided it’s going to be very hard for [Esmerelda] to have privacy,” she explained. “And we thought this is the first opportunity we can give her to protect her and so then I had a nice calm pregnancy.”

A calm pregnancy meant Mendes and Gosling kept the pregnancy a secret until she was about 7 months along (read about it here).

And while Mendes looked amazing in a little red dress on the show, she was quick to dispel any ideas that she’s already hitting the gym. “I’m, you know, breastfeeding,” she revealed. “I’ve always heard it. It really does help to shrink your uterus back to normal size. It does! … So it’s breastfeeding is really helping and then obviously you want to be healthy for the baby because she’s eating kind of what I’m eating, so you want to make good choices.”

When baby can’t sleep, you can’t either. While there’s not a whole lot we can do besides empathize, in the spirit of Bumping it Forward, we’ve rounded up the best real-mom strategies for helping baby sleep better.

“I give her a bath and then turn on a blow-dryer, and she’s out in seconds!” – velasquez_jes

“My 10 month old has never fallen asleep on her own. I wear her a lot during the day and at night she won’t even let us rock her to sleep sitting down; we have to walk around in circles in a pitch black room until she’s totally asleep.” — Mama2Be

“Babies are used to noise in the womb; don’t put them to sleep while hushing everyone around you.” — Sara K.

“We have been putting him in sleepsacks ever since 3 weeks and he sleeps like a champ. Our routine consists of washing his head every night — he had wicked cradle cap and we’re trying to keep it in control — then giving him a little massage with some lotion. Next he gets a clean diaper, goes into his sleepsack, has one more round of nursing and then goes to bed.” — kalves82

For more parenting tips, download The Bump Baby Appto get week-by-week information and advice for baby’s first year. With every download during the month of October, we’ll make a donation to Every Mother Counts.

Essential oils have been taking the world by storm lately, and for good reason. Essential oils* are a fantastic way to enhance and sustain your health. I also found them to be absolutely vital during the birth of our son. They played a big role in relieving pain and encouraging energy and focus when I was in labor. If you’ve ever been curious about essential oils and how they might benefit your birthing experience, here are some top oils for labor and delivery.

Lavender

Lavender is well-known for its relaxing properties. Relaxation is key during labor and plays a big part in how quickly labor advances. Diffusing lavender during labor or inhaling it directly can help mom calm her nerves and save her energy. Plus, it smells amazing.

Peppermint

Peppermint is great for handling any pain during labor. Applying it to the areas that hurt (think back, neck, legs) can bring great relief. Peppermint can relieve nausea in an incredible way. Simply smelling the oil can ward off an upset tummy. The bold coolness of the peppermint oil is a great way to keep mom energized and focused.

Roman Chamomile

Roman chamomile is a great refresher. When put on a cold, wet washcloth and placed on mom’s forehead, it can provide relief and rejuvenation during labor.

Frankincense

Frankincense, when applied to the perineum, can help prevent tearing (who doesn’t want to avoid that?). After birth, applying one drop of frankincense mixed with a carrier oil to the baby’s head can supposedly promote brain development. This was an extremely common practice during biblical times, which is why frankincense was so highly valued.

Myrrh

This one is more for the new little one, but applying myrrh to the umbilical cord site is a great way to advance its healing.

Ylang Ylang and Geranium

The combination of these two oils was a lifesaver for me after birth. Mixing these two oils with coconut oil and applying it to mom’s stomach post-delivery can help tone and tighten the uterus and slow bleeding. This combination also helped my belly skin tighten quickly postpartum.

Have you ever tried essential oils? Have you used them during labor and delivery? Let us know in the comments!

*Please note that I am only referring to pure, therapeutic grade essential oils. Quality is extremely important when it comes to essential oils. Always dilute essential oils with a carrier oil like coconut oil. Also note that I am not a doctor. I’m just a mom who is sharing from her own experience and research. I encourage you to do your own research as well so that you can be confident in the decisions you make for yourself and your baby.